Seven: Dreams Go On - Waking Dream

Seven: Dreams Go On - Waking Dream
Date of Scene:	18 January 2014
Location:	Castle of Dreams
Synopsis:	Seith's curse comes to bear. Cinderella falls asleep. As do many of our other heroes. This is the story for those who escaped the curse's grasp.
Thanks to:	Oathkeeper
Cast of Characters:	Zia, Maira, LEXUS, Minerva, Angantyr Vespar, Kim Possible, Chita, Alberic Lux, Edison Reece, Warden Thache
Tinyplot:	Seven

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Oathkeeper has posed:
The Castle of Dreams. A place that contains much hope, despite the dark omen that has set on it. Dozens upon dozens of carriages, horses, and even Chocobos are parked in the plaza, housing adventurers, soldiers, and whoever might not wish to show their face to the public.

But they are slowly but surely all emptying out, as these people make their way into the castle in preparation for what is to come. Cinderella is loved by many, for her humble origin having worked her way up to becoming a princess. And the Shadow Lords are despised by many others.

Truly, there are so many reasons to be prepared and ready for what is to come.

Massive fires are lit around the castle to illuminate the place. Patrols are marching left and right. Everyone is waiting for it. The fall of night. The onset of the curse.

Up in the highest tower, a thick pack of knights and trusted adventurers are prepared around Cinderella's room. Within, the princess holds her prince's hand.

Time continues to tick by, until finally one of the far away town bells rings loudly. And when it finally hits its final and ninth chime of the hour - things begin. The clouds darken, hardly allowing the light of the moon to come through anymore. And amidst the castle, some of those who were already there collapse on the ground right where they are.

Along with Cinderella, many people just fell to the curse, being forced into the realm of sleep. Their bodies just laying there in the castle. Asleep. But where are the enemies? Where are those who would try to take Cinderella's now sleeping body?

The answer comes in the form of a massive swarm of yellow eyes at the front of the castle. Heartless. Hundreds of them, moving upon the castle.

Or is that merely a diversion?

Zia has posed:
The role of a guardian is one that suits Zia well. It's what gargoyles do. So, she's spent much of this night flying patrols around the castle or pacing within Cinderella's room, not able to offer much in the way of magical knowledge towards breaking this kind of curse. Sorcery is not her strong suit. With only a handful of spells at her disposal, none of them are helpful here. It's all a matter of waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Then, the bell tolls. Perhaps it's the fact that she's a gargoyle, and her manner of 'sleep' isn't the same as the others, or maybe her crystal protects her as it does from stone sleep. Whatever the case, the curse doesn't seem to touch her. "Heartless..." She mutters to herself. "Ye've waited until now, ye great mass of bloody monsters." Her eyes flash to red as the gargoyle hisses under her breath, "We havete keep them away from the princess. Get anyone who can still fight down to the gates." She shouts at a man in full armor, who seems surprised to be taking orders from a monster, but scurries off none the less.

Zia, on the other hand, launches herself out a window, doing a quick sweep over the horde of looming yellow eyes before coming back down to land along with the others already gathering to defend the castle. "It's a mess out there."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr has noticed a pattern with these events.

Angantyr is not at the gates when the heartless come. Instead he has chosen a different tactic.

There is a reason why the Shadow Lords were after the Princesses of hearts...as such, he would not be down there, they were not short supply of people willing to brave the heartless. Cowardace is not Angantyr's style...no he was waiting, waiting for the Shadow Lords' ploy. Instead of engaging, he waited, actually hiding near Cinderella's room and simply watching and waiting. Eventually, someone would make themselves noticed...and someone will come after her.

When they do, Angantyr will engage them full force, and drive them away. Powerful, or not...

Of course, Prince Charming could also aid, so that will continue to balance things in their favor.

He grabs the Prince's arm, "Do not. They will come here, for her. Let our allies handle the gate." he says, advising. "Trust me, it is what the Shadow Lords want you to do."

Kim Possible has posed:
The Castle of Dreams.

Normally it'd seem like a wonderful place for a fairy tale or something, but with all these Heartless and what not, it's more like something out of a nightmare. Not to mention with all the people in the castle falling asleep, it's almost like they're being subjected to a nightmare as well. Even poor Cinderella is asleep, and the Heartless are after her.

From a nearby spot, Kim Possible swings into the area using her grappling hook like a vine before landing with the others on the ground, her feet skidding to a stop as she arrives. "Heartless? Totally uncool!" She scowls with that comment. "We're gonna have to take them out and save the princess!" She then lightens up a little. "The twins would love to be here I bet. Too bad it's way past their bedtime!"

LEXUS has posed:
Just when you thought it was safe to leave your Princesses indoors.

Amidst the swarms of black Shadows comes something else. Their form is sleek, six-limbed, each leg tipped with chrome plating that speaks of an advanced design and ending in n infinitely sharp point. The body beneath is the form of a dark Heartless, veined with pulsing violet circuit patterns that rise along the limbs towards the burning, yellow-eyed head. Chrome mandibles jut from the darkness beneath, and the Heartless Emblen is emblazoned on their forehead, pulsing with the power of the Dark. They move in a swarm, but while the Heartless are driven by hunger, these move in a coordinated pattern, parting to swarm around attacks like water, closing in and bringing defenders down where they can.

Those who know them, know their creator. And approaching those gates is, at first glance an aged man, dressed in a black suit with white undershirt. In one hand is a cane of smooth black plastic that shines from within with a flourescent light. He uses it to move forward, walking through the Heartless swarm. Tak. Tak. Tak.

And then he looks up, and dispels all hope that this is a normal man. Purple circuitry runs along the tie, up his jawlines towards his temples, gleaming with a neon pulsing energy. Where there would be eyes in a normal man there are black orbs, within which are triangular designs within violet circles, each spinning and twitching back and forth relentlessly.

It smiles. "It has been too long." He says, in a casual voice.

Those who know him call him LEXUS. Or THAT GUY. Without words, he sends the Daemon Heartless forward to assault the gates, letting them smash into the defenses. "Separate and destroy them." The man says, reaching behind and pulling out a black Identity Disc, incised with violet light like his body.

Prepare for battle, for the Dark Virus has come.

Maira has posed:
Maira was also there, guarding Cinderella as she's promised. She held onto a measure of hope that when the curse struck perhaps she would feel /something/ and be able to stop it. Apparently, that was in vain. Maira watches as Cinderella falls asleep, and Avira too. Many slump forward in sleep as the curse takes hold, but Maira isn't among them. "Well thank Phoenix," she says to herself. Should she put blankets on them? That's what you do, right?

Maira moves over to Angantyr and Charming, wincing. "They've fallen asleep...but we haven't, so lets make them regret this," she says, taking up a position near the others and calling up her magic.

A wave of white light the flickers like flame would descend on herself, Angan, and Charming. "We won't fail," she adds, stuffing down her own fear.

Alberic Lux has posed:
The clock strikes the hour. The final chime fades, echoing through the castle and its environs.

Above, in a little alcove, a door swings open.

This door is unlike the rest in the castle. It isn't wooden, carved with graceful lines or built with sturdy planks. It isn't metal, banded and sealed, meant to hold back things within or without. It simply is, hanging in mid-air, a square of white light and curious mist.

An outline appears in the door. It solidifies into a man, walking with a casual, confident stride. He steps through it, feet touching down on soft carpet. He gets them under him, and he stops, pausing to take in his surroundings. "Huh," he remarks, to no one in particular. "I expected something more... urban."

He spots someone. A guard, slumped against a wall, snoring away. He kneels down next to him, examining him closely with his one eye. He opens one of the guard's, looking into it, and then lets it close. A snore escapes the man's lips. The one-eyed man shakes his head, and stands back up.

"Well. That means we must have intruders on the other side," he says, smiling to himself. It's a crooked, humorless expression. "I wonder who else is here, outside of their poor, unprotected bodies?"

Alberic Lux begins to stride down the hallway, deeper into the castle. He whistles a jaunty tune as he goes, unconcerned with the siege without and more interested in the opportunities within. It's a good thing someone is guarding the interior, though.

...right?

Edison Reece has posed:
Ever since the curse was cast, Edison has been restless. Maybe it was because he was facing something he had never seen before. Maybe it was because he could see that Things were going to happen once sleep claimed the princess. He never put much thought into it, trying to keep his mind busy with other things. However, those damned words kept gnawning.

And so, here he was, as the curse took effect. He was not one of those who fell asleep, and that was a good thing. The army of Heartless outside? Not a good thing, but that was something he could act to help solve.

"Hello again, monsters," he whispers as his armor and weapons heed his call, taking shape around him, "it has been a while."

Minerva has posed:
So here is Minerva, she had come with Avira, and Maira, along with a few other here she sees over to see so many people have just fallen asleep. She deftly steps over Deelel's unconscious form and moves to keep up with her friend until LEXUS shows up. She fought him, she was one of the last ones out of Manhattan and she growls.

"Demon, so you show thine foul self once more? I will rip you apart his ti...."

Oh look Zerg rush, ya she's not getting her hands directly on LEXUS for a while. There's a small army of heartless between them also there is the matter of the sleepers to worry about. The Monk charges into the heartless ranks trying to draw their attention but there's just so many.

"Maira, I think ti's time to purge these things in fire!"

Warden Thache has posed:
Within the walls of the Castle of Dreams are all manner of nobles and servents. However everyone does not wait with equal patience, and some of the gathered nobles have even gone so far as to hire a group of traveling players as their own type of distraction.

A more pleasureable one to while the time away.

Nobles man. They do strange things.

Thache's Traveling Players have done a fairly good job of doing just that. For a small troupe their colorful leader cat-like leader Nikolai does a fine job with a show. Knife tricks and pyrotechnics. Minor acrobatics set in the courtyard. They have done their level best to keep spirits up.

As the appointed time counts down however the people turn anxious eyes to the tower and its guards. People pay less and less attention to the traveling players, and with less and less attention upon them the players eventually cease their play. Waiting along with every other soul for the appointed time.

The bell tolls.

'Nikolai' smiles slightly. "Ah," he murmurs quietly. "Final act. Playtime is over boys." His voice holding a touch of excitement. "The games begin."

The man steps towards the stage once more, looking over the courtyard of frightened and determined faces. He breathes deep of the fear that threads though the people there.

"My coat." He says as he steps down from the stage and starts towards the door to the tower. While everyone is focused on the gates and LEXUS.

Well thats less people focusing on the prize.

The figure of the cat-eared preformer seems to melt away as he discards his fancy finery. The coat that he slips on is black leater, marked in the back with a dragon's skull over crossed bones. A bandolier is thrown on, multiple pistols tucked into it. A pair of swordhilts are settled to rest against his hips. Even the winged raccoon that lands on his shoulder is packing paired pistols.

Say that three times fast.

Its now Nikolai the preformer that ends up kicking open the door to the tower to stroll inside. It is Warden Thache. Son of Edward Thache. One...if not the...most wanted pirate from the belts of Saturn to the far side of the Crab Nebula. The few guards at the door don't last very long.

"Alright boys," He asides to the few members of his crew that took this little mission with him. "Cause some mayhem. And if anything expensive happens to go missing." The pirate settles a tricorn had on his head, glowing charge sticks for his energy pistols framing his face is flame. "Well. So who am I to complain."

With that and a swish of a midnight black tail..and a swig of grog or course, the man begins to casually ascend towards where the princess and her guards happen to be waiting. Not that he knows that.

It wouldn't stop him even if he did. It just makes it more fun when they struggle.

Chita has posed:
Of course, despite all that was going on well inside the castle, currently 'peaceful' enough with those sleeping and those who are awake and guarding... there was always things that were not quite as they seemed. At the moment, one of those who had offered to keep the Princess safe was waiting downstairs, waiting and listening and doing what he can do best at the moment - that being picking out things most others would have a hard time hearing.

Only...

What he heard, not long after midnight rang, was a strange sound. A whisper... faint, but still audible, though apparently only to him given the few guards he questioned nearby.

'Help me...'

Chita continued to hear the faint, occasional sounds of someone, a female albeit distant, pleading softly for help. "I am going to try and find the source of that... whatever it is, it is real. It is there. Let me get one of you to come along with me so I do not have to fight someone in this castle to get where the sound is coming from." And with that a younger guard nods and says, "But... you are..." and the response came with a sigh, "Shoo, just walk ahead of me and I will tell you which way to go. I can hear you well enough, and if it comes to steps I will make do. That way." And he pointed, speaking of, towards one of the upper hallways. "I do think it is coming from there." And off he went, in a slow enough pace, following behind the guard and listening to try and figure out just who was needing help, and where.

Zia has posed:
With a castle this large, it seems impossible to protect every part of it at once. There were only so many heroes, and there were more lives than just that of the princess to protect. For now, Zia just has to trust that the defenders within the castle will be able to handle whatever forces manage breach the walls, while she does her best as air support. Gargoyles don't do well within close walls, and sometimes you go where you'll be most useful.

"Ah'll try te lend some covering fire. Try te keep most of the heartless back from enterin' the castle." She advises one of the guards, although this is probably a clear enough goal, anyways. She has no way of knowing that some have already gotten in, at least from this vantage point.

Pushing off from the ground with a gust of wind, the white gargoyle sweeps over the horde again, her gaze stopping short on the sight of the cane-wielding program and his monsterous spider-looking Heartless. "LEXUS." She hasn't seen the dark program since the attacks on Manhattan, but that was enough to tell her just how dangerous he could be.

"Alright, lass, worry aboot the leader later, we needte slow these down first." So, as she goes on fly-by, the ground beneath a few of the spider-heartless begins to freeze, a tactic meant to slow them down rather than cause too much direct damage. This is followed by a surge of electricity for those that make it past the first obsticle, the ground seeming to have been charged to stun.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Warden finds himself coming to the top of the stairs.

Infront of him is a Dark Knight, clad in abyssal armor being flanked by a young woman in a hot outfit.

Get it. Fire? Hot?

His hand comes out, reaching for something...

And then the Keyblade, Tyrant Breaker, appears. A white silvery metal, wrapped by a dark obsidian metal like a vine. The weapon comes back, a large weapon by most standards as he stares down the pirate.

"I'd suggest you go back the way you came. This place is not for you...unless you pay homage to the Shadow Lords. You will find, you are out of your league.."

The weapon comes back down, but he does not strike...yet.

"This is your first, and only warning."

Maira has posed:
Well, Maira is wearing the cool red dress with all the small, linked chains that look like dragon scales. It is pretty hot.

Yeah yeah, and she'll probably be on fire soon.

Maira blinks to Warden. "Oh, hey, it's you! Yeah something really bad is going on here. Are you..maybe here to help..?" she asks. Sorry Warden, wanted pirate and badass, name known throughout the stars...to her, you're still that guy who was Avira's minion for a little while.

Kim Possible has posed:
Just when you thought it was safe to launch a Heartless attack on a castle, here's Kim Possible to prove you otherwise. As soon as LEXUS makes his appearance with his Heartless, Kim spins around and shakes her head. "You guys are so totally uncool! But if you want to get in there, you're gonna have to deal with me first!" Kim assumes her martial arts style stance, and gestures towards the Heartless. "You want a piece of this? Come on!" Kim then cartwheels towards the Heartless, intent on hitting one of them, before following up with an uppercut to make her point known.

Edison Reece has posed:
It is a bit hard to miss that giant honking abomination among the sea of... okay, it was just a bigger abomination among abominations.

But then... then there was the old man. Who also seemed to be calling the shots. Well, that seemed to be a valid enough target.

"So. So." No witty remarks. No words of hate.

... better to just start shooting and stop waxing purple prose. The Ranger just perches on top of the gate, and starts pulling the trigger.

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS is a giant distraction for Warden. He's here to draw the lion's share of the resistance, and it appears that much, at least, is successful. The Heartless begin taking attacks. Minerva and Zia come striking into the swarm, crashing into them and raking them with elemental fury. Ice and Lightning crash down into the mass, while Minerva's fists pummel into the horde. Several of them shatter and then explode into shadow and darkness, vanishing.

LEXUS looks up at Zia speculatively, the irises of his eyes turning and nictating. "... Something seems different about you since last we met." He frowns slightly. "More data is required."

Meanwhile, the HEartless prove to be difficult to deal with for Kim, as they break away from Kim's attacks, melting back just in time to strike from behind, swarming her. Edison, meanwhile, engages in ranged combat from the battlements, trailing a line of gunfire through the HEartless to slam into LEXUS himself. The bullets hammer into a series of hexagonal barriers around him, shattering a moment later under the assault as he is struck. His body does not bleed, bits of him flaking off in neon blue voxels as he grimaces in pain. "Well then. His estimation of the resistance was lower than expected. Adapting."

The cane is dismissed, and the black Disc is flicked into the air, hovering around him... Before it fires out sprays of neon green spears, gleaming and deadly power striking out to disrupt his enemies and weaken their defenses.

A moment later, explosions of flame roar through the area, detonations ripping through magical protections and shredding them away. The disc then descends, LEXUS hurling it high into the air as it rains down icicles in a hailstorm of destructive force, before he snaps up the cane, leveling it and unleashing a beam, using combined force to strike at his enemies over the heads of the Heartless. They move as an unnervingly unified mass, instantly shifting to safe locations to prevent from getting destroyed by LEXUS's own attacks. "If you think you will be able to stop me so easily, I will be sorely disappointed!"

Alberic Lux has posed:
Lux keeps walking. He starts to move deeper into the castle, descending from the highest points. He arrived up high, having been expecting to appear on top of a building as opposed to inside a castle. More warning next time, perhaps. He'll look before he leaps. Maybe they'll even have time to do it.

He passes a window overlooking the gate. Lux pauses, watching the Heartless swarm, and the creatures of data and darkness with them. He frowns deeply. Lux unlatches the window, pushing it open and leaning out. He takes a deep breath, and cups his hands around his mouth.

"YOU SHOULD PROBABLY TAKE CARE OF THOSE," he shouts. When a random guard looks up at him, he points emphatically at the gate. "IT IS HARD TO DEFEND A FORTIFICATION," he adds, "IF THE ENTRANCE IS CONTROLLED BY THE ENEMY."

Lux straightens and starts back down the hall. "Amateurs," he mutters, disparagingly.

A moment later, the man arrives at the huge staircase, guarded by a man with a villainous-looking Keyblade, and... "Ah! Maira! Good evening!" he calls. Alberic waves past Angantyr and apparently disregards Warden as a random vandal. He doesn't concern himself with the affairs of law enforcement. "Have you seen a book of vile magics here anywhere? I've an experiment running and it seems to be providing interference."

He stands out of the immediate path of gunfire. The object on his back, like a sheathed sword without a guard or a seam, drifts off of him and to his side almost lazily.

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden looks entirely unworried about the trio he finds himself confronted with. The pirate's smile grows, revealing his fangs in a look that could be considered. Well. Sinister.

Yes. Sinister sounds right.

He eyes the tip of the keyblade pointed at him. It doesn't seem to worry him, it seems more to amuse him than anything else.

"You two. I should have known. The blind protecting the sleeping. Though I have to admit, you /are/ quite the dish as a fire mage. I like the scales." He doesn't seem like the performer that she met before.

His cat-slitted eyes almost glow a bright green in the reflection of the lit charging coils. "See mate, the funny thing about warnings..."

Suddenly he is moving, so much faster than a human has any right to move. Of course he's not human so that fits. One booted foot steps up into the air and he suddenly shoves off of it like it was solid ground, flinging himself up the stairs towards the defenders. His cloak flares behind him, hiding the drawing of a pair of pistols. The guns roar, sending bright flares of energy towards the defenders. He lands in front of the trio as he reverses one pistol to swing it up towards Aug's jaw, the other one is replaced as he drops his hand to the hilt of the weapon on his hip. With a reverse draw he pulls a cutlass hilt from his belt, a blade of solid energy springing up as he draws to try to cut those chains right off Maria's outfit before he is sprining back again, leaving a odd little device in his wake.

It looks like a wooden box.

But seconds after the cat-captain clears the area it explodes, ropes made of glimmering energy lashing out towards the defenders, intent to tie up limbs and fix them in place. Hanging in midair like bugs in a web.

He alights in midair. "...the thing about warnings, is they just give you away."

Of course then his impressive little introduction is entirely ruined when Alberic just strolls right on past him like he isn't even there.

Warden pauses, his ears slowly pinning back against his skull. "Ahem, mate. Do you mind. I'm attempting to stage a kidnapping here."

MEANWHILE!!

The fight outside is heating up, but the gates are still closed. The castle is still secure against the heartless? Right? RIGHT?!

Maybe not.

Shadowy figures slip around the base of the walls inside the castle. A few select members of the pirate crew who didn't get to loot. Which is why they are feeling surly. The guards by the gate wheel will find surly pirates a very difficult thing to deal with as they rush them, starting to open the gate, ever so slightly. Ever so slowly. All they need is a little time, and all the heartless will be inside. That should be fun.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr turns back towards Maira, quickly shoving her away from the chains, before his arm is caught.

Explosions rock the area, and for a moment, nothing moves from the smoke.

Lux is ignored, neither is he attacking...nor is he a creature of darkness. Angantyr can sense that...his lack of help is distressing, but that can be addressed later. He's not hurting either...and he has eyes on one man.

Warden will find that darkness itself reaches out to try and DRAG him down, aiming to pin him to the floor as suddenly he rushes out. He aims to drive his blade down, aiming to litterally sweep in a wide arch, before slamming it back down, aiming to bounce Warden into the ground.

"No, it is because you are no threat to me. I gave you a choice, you choose...poorly. Report to your masters that your fate is the same as anyone else who crosses me."

"That you ate dirt."

Zia has posed:
A number of things had changed for Zia since the second fall of her world. The fact that she's here on the front lines is a vast departure from her former self, who preferred to fight from the back row and avoid getting into direct conflicts with the Heartless. A lot can change in a year. She snarls towards Lexus, red eyes glowing fiercely as she turns in mid-air, coming back around for another attack.

Though the initial blast of green energy seems to miss her in the air, the girl weaving between them as she flies, there is no way to avoid the brunt of the attack. Explosions, then the cold of ice that is not her own comes raining down, causing Zia to have to tuck her wings over herself to shield herself from the worst of it. It leaves a few rips here and there in the webbing as a taloned hand grasps onto the castle wall, keeping her from plummeting towards the ground.

Sweeping her wings back, the gargoyle clings onto the castle like an oversized bat. Above, the stormclouds from the curse still linger, and it's the best she can do to call them to her advantage. Raising her free hand, she holds it out towards a group of the heartless, sweeping up, then down while muttering something in Latin under her breath.

The spell, should it strike home, is aimed to sweep up a number of the program's heartless in a whirlwind, tossing them into the air, before slamming them back into their brethren on the ground.

Chita has posed:
'Help me...'

'Please, hurry...'

The soft sounds continued to haunt the Viera's ears as he tried to figure out where they were coming from. A guard, confused, leading around a blind Viera who could only hear such at the moment, wasn't the best of teams. Eventually, however, Chita pointed towards the tower that Cinderella was in. "It is coming from that direction. What is there?"

Pausing to consider if he should say, the guard fesses up with, "That is a tower that houses the room that belongs to Princess Cinderella, among a few other such. Are you cert--" The guard was interrupted with a quick, "Hurry! If that is true, we need to get there as soon as you can! I can hear something going on outside the castle that sounds vaguely like fighting, so if you want to keep her safe I suggest we find out who is in trouble there and why!" And with that the younger fellow nods and begins to trot at a fair pace towards where was pointed, having to go a different direction to get there though because hallways aren't always straight to where you need to go. The closer Chita got, though...

The more confusing it all was.

Kim Possible has posed:
The small but swift Kim shows that she's got more than she might appear to have as the attacks are all completely avoided by her. "If you think you're gonna take me down, you're totally uncool with that!" Kim says as she cracks her knuckles, having barely broken a sweat after that one. "You're not getting into this castle if I have something to say about it!" She fires her grappling hook at a nearby tree branch and attempts to swing around a couple of times. The first time is to try to take a Heartless down with a kick, and the next will be her dismounting trick, in which she delivers a swift flying kick on her way down!

Maira has posed:
Blinking, Maira turns toward Lux, quite surprised to see him. It has been a while, after all! "Lux? What are you doing here?" she asks, at about the same moment he asks her if she's seen a book. Maira shakes her head in answer. "A book of vile magics? Well, I haven't seen one /today/ anyway...I burned one a few days ago though!" she offers helpfully. No, Maira does not know how creepy Lux is. No one has shared this information as of yet.

It seems only a moment later that she's turning back toward Warden, only to find him a blur of deadly motion. What was that about being a dish? Huh? Maira throws herself backward, pretty surprised at just how far she flies back. Wow, she'd really gotten stronger! And quicker!

Oh, wait. Angantyr threw her. Disappoint.

The area explodes, and Maira's eyes widen as she scrambles to her feet. Hey, wait! Warden is a bad guy!? She thought he was just a scoundrel. You know, like Raine or Ivo or... but he's working with the Shadow Lord's to take Cinderella! Maira runs back in to get a better view of Warden, lighting up. "Might want to scooch back a hair," she asides to Lux, as her whole body becomes a pyre.

The castle is stone, right?

"You /really/ ought to listen to him!" she tells Warden, then weaves her magic into a wave of flame that rushes toward him with a roar.

Minerva has posed:
Wellt hings are not going well for her she's just blasted hard by LEXUS, the water almsot nulifying her own attack and she's not feeling too good she's was aiming to pummble the heck out of Lexus but that didn't go so well as she had to get through his minions first her hands frees over for a moment as she strkes into a chain of attacks she's trying to flow them down and otherwise waylay them.

"Lexus! Going to hide beghuind htese things or are you going to fight like last time!"

Edison Reece has posed:
Edison made a mistake out there, he left himself a tad too exposed. Still, the damage had been done, and he was pretty sure that puppetmaster took worse than he gave him.

'Might have spoken a tad too soon.' he thought, jumping out of his spot just in time to avoid the wrath of the enemy. Landing on a three-point stance, he took a deep breath and flicked his wrist for some obscure reason. Or at least, that was what it seemed, as he focused on his next move. Holding his weapon on a two handed grip, he fired some kind of projectile before following up with an aimed shot.

Warden Thache has posed:
"Lady Flame," Warden tosses towards Maira with a laugh. "I very seldom listen to anyone."

Thats about all he can say however before fire and darkness washed over him. He does indeed eat dirt, just as Angantyr says. Draged down he impacts the castle stairs with a crunch. He bounces as Angantyr indends, rolling just enough to keep the keyblade from pinning him or the blade to tearing into him worse than it already has.

A dark chuckle escapes the pirate captain, his eyes brightening. "Oh." He sounds...happy? "A challenge. You don't know how long since I've had one of those mate." Augantyr's condemation about his being 'not a threat' brings a second chuckle. "You don't know me from Adam, and I don't know you from a Venusian mind slug. So shall we keep who is a threat to whom till after this is all over?" A pause. "I think the mind slug /might/ hit harder."

Maira's flames rush towards him and instead of dodging or rolling he throws back his head and laughs before charging right through them.

Fire clings to him as he bursts out the other side, already kicking into the air once again and this time slinging an energy rope out from a mechinism on his wrist to wrap around Maira's waist and yank her with him.

His pistol comes up as he leaps, aiming towards the angry keyblade wielder to snap off a quick shot. The rope snakes around as he fire like a living thing, intent on wrapping around the angry man's keyblade and throw him up as well, a dark energy coiling down the energy construct to sap the life from the pair held there as well.

Warden does not believe in fair play.

"As for a book, you can have it mate! Thats not what I'm here for!" He tosses towards Lux with a flashing and fanged grin that shows that the man is actually /enjoying/ himself.

Then a curious glance towards Maira as he asks. "And where is the Lady Wolf? I was so hoping to properly introduce myself after all."

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS says, "Ah, that hasn't changed, at least. Do you hate me, Gargess? That is the proper term, correct?" LEXUS replies. "Your world was a valuable source of data. I had never had the opportunity to directly observe the consumption of a world before." He gestures, and the Daemon Heartless suddenly part like a wave moments before the magical assault strikes, causing only a few to be obliterated immediately. That same curious expression crosses LEXUS' face regardless, as he narrows those alien eyes. He is about to say something, when Kim Posssible comes in like some kind of ninja awesome superspy. He glares to the side, watching Kim kick Heartless into each other and destroying a group of them in an explosion of Darkness. "Inconvenient. You are the confident one, aren't you?"

Minerva calls out her challenge as LEXUS shakes his head. "All things come in order, martial artist. Patience is a virtue, is it not!?" He laughs as he directs a sudden blast of electricity towards Minerva, striking her with a stunning blast of power. Edison fires another blast down, this time imparting a poison into him. LEXUS frowns at this, the pain coursing through his body. "I have had enough of this." He announces, raising his hands. "Assuming direct control."

There is a crackle of lightning as something... cracks, shaking the area as it becomes sharper, more... realistic, uncannily so. Alberic might feel something unpleasant churning within him as the effect spread from his point, washing over those around him...

And then he raises an arm and slams it into the ground, causing it to shatter and break into black, churning pools that hang hunder him like a flowing abyss. The ground sprouts purple circuitry, lashing out and growing like terrifying data tendrils. One can see the grass beginning to fade and turn brown as the life begins to be drained from the area, consumed to feed the Dark Virus. Those nearby might also feel the same if the circuitry reaches them."

Maira has posed:
Maira looks genuinely surprised, and yes, afraid, as Warden laughs like a maniac and charges through her fire and toward her. Maira scrambles back from him, preparing another onslaught, or perhaps a heal--but she doesn't get the chance to do either of those things before a rope of energy lashes around her waist and yanks her into the air after Warden. With a 'hurk!' of pain, the air momentarily leaving her lungs, Maira tries to sense the position of important things; like herself, Angantyr, and Warden. Those are good things to know. Warden is, safe to say, more than they've bargained for. That is not to say she's going to give up, or that she doesn't think she can beat him. Her and Angan have fought many, many battles before. They can do this.

Generally, she just needs to keep him alive and wait for for him to level things while she burns them.

Finding him is easy. She has a sense for him by now. Her hearts just knows where he is. So as Maira's inner light turns up the heat, shining white and sparkling (beware the sparkle, buddy!) it rushes out from her and into him as she's flung around like a flaming flail.

Lady Wolf? Oh! Avira! "Like I would tell you!" she replies to Warden.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr feels something on the Keyblade...

That's not goo-YOINK.

Angantyr flies up, but...Warden underestimates the strength of the massive man, with a powerful grunt...despite the fact that he was at the disadvantage of leverage, PULLS himself free, and then DIVES down at the man, aiming to drive him back into the ground. He growls...he gets too close to Maira.

"The lady, wishes nothing to do with you...and you sir, are attempting to force yourself where you do not belong."

"And you talk too much. I hate people who talk way too much." he growls, and then...

Darkness and light start to brilliantly shine as he pulls the weapon back...and then he dives at Warden, aiming to brutally slam him into the ground, aiming to drive him up for a brief moment, and then with a clawed hand drag him back into the ground.

Magic flies into Angantyr, regenerating him and he grins...oh this is going to be bad for him.

Then, Angantyr reaches up, aiming to bring the Keyblade with him, driving it into the ground...

"And this is where the difference between us is decided..." he says this as darkness spreads all over, thousands of claws aim to rip up at Warden...before he pulls the keyblade back...

"Tyrant..." he starts, as light starts to build on the weapon...

And thrusts it forward, a massive blast of light tears through the area, aiming right towards the Pirate. "BREAKER!"

BGM Change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfN8n4lH6pY

Zia has posed:
Sometimes things just do not go your way. It's clear that whatever the magic is that brought these stormclouds above, that they are not the same sort of magic that Zia is used to. "Bloody cursed winds." She mutters. "If only..." She hesitates, her hand reaching towards her throat. No. It's not time for that power. Not here, not yet.

It's Lexus talking to her that draws Zia's attention back. She's not about to have that whole argument of gargoyle vs. gargess vs. gargress. "Ye destroy things before ye have any chance te even understand them. How many worlds until yer satisfied?" She shakes her head, "Ah'll never understand wha ye 'n yer Shadow Lords are tryin te accomplish. But for now Ah've gotte try te..."

And that's the point that she gets cut off by a lashing of that dark circuitry as it curls around one of her ankles, sending a wave of dark energy through her. The gargoyle clenches her teeth but doesn't quite manage not to cry out from it, reaching her free hand down to swipe with one claw, trying to free herself. The whole exchange leaves a dark burn against her leg, looking black and purple in various places.

With a blast of wind, she launches off of the side of the castle and back into the air. There's not much she can do just now, with the roiling landscape below. So, she extends a hand out, trying to form up another line of ice, hoping to form another barrier for the Heartless and their master to have to bypass.

Kim Possible has posed:
Kim is caught way off guard by the incoming attack from LEXUS, and she's knocked into one of the castle walls. This leaves her dazed and quite confused. She can't seem to remember what's what or where's where. It appears she's been incapacitated for now.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva says "So that's what it was all about a bloody test? You wanting more data?!"

She can't argue with patience being a virtue and LEXUS does not get any sass back over that as the full force of LEXUS power as he assumed direct control. She halts for a second at the power she's not sure what to think of it, she moves to protected herself and let she endure the power of the dark virus but it's clear Minerva is hut and she attempts to focus her own chi as it were to flush herself of LEXUS's effect and also prepare for her own counter attack against him. She just needs a little bit of time to prepare, but will LEXUS let her get so far?

"...so this is what your really capable of were you just holding back in Manhattan?!"

Edison Reece has posed:
"Ugh." the Ranger grunts, feeling the effects of being hit by those blobs. His armor fades in and out for a second, reflecting the draining in effect, but once the blobs of darkness fade, the plating appears again.

However, the damage had been done. The Ranger feels lightheaded for some moments, tryng to shake the confusion over what happened down. and when the confusion is shaken, rage comes. Well, sort of. While preparing himself for his next sprint, Edison lays two lines of fire... literal fire from his guns, before he breaks into a sprint towards LEXUS, stepping over anything that stands into his path as he prepares to strike, first with a strong entry, then with a quick strike.

Warden Thache has posed:
The mad pirate laughs towards Maira's words. "Oh come now. You can tell me. We are such good friends. I'd even offer you two Quarter if I thought you would take it." He can see the lights and magics starting to roll around Angantyr's frame, and how the man grins as his wounds begin to knit.

Hrmmm.

Going to have to do something about that.

But first he has to do something about Angantyr himself. Since the man seems /intent/ on ending the pirates career in one fell swoop. He's seen that move before. He know the damage it can inflict first hand. There is a shift in the captain as he stands on the stairs. A slight flicker of a smile as the ropes fizzle out of existance and he stares down the barrel of a charging keyblade.

"Well," He drawls as his eyes slowly slit. From either pleasure at seeing this, or from something else. "I supose I shall have to get serious."

Wait?! He wasn't serious before.

Tyrant Breaker discharges and the cat moves. It /should/ have contacted him dead center, but the pirate isn't there anymore. He twists away from the massive beam, powerful enough to blow a hole in the wall behind him.

"You're right mate," His coat swirls around him, singed but still holding. "This /is/ where the difference is decided." One blade is drawn. "And you have been found wanting."

He blurs fowards, stepping up into the air as he goes. He fills both hands with the cutlasses and the energy blades snap to life as he tears forwards. Held in a referse grip he leaps past Angantyr. No magic. No powerful keyblade. Nothing but pure speed and skill up against the both of them.

And the pirate seems more than a match.

The man twists, he drives the blade towards the big knight with a vicious twist. Then spins again to wrap the remaining energy rope attached to Maira around one forearm and heave himself further up. An impossible leap and twist of his body before he rams one blade up towards Maira and the other down towards Augantyr's neck.

All pretence of playtime is over. Only the vicious enjoyment of a fight remains.

LEXUS has posed:
Everything begins falling apart for the defenders. Kim Possible is the first to break before the assault, and LeXUS smiles faintly, emboldened. "Understanding comes with disassembly and reassembly. Why else would I not have interfered with your work to rebuild the world? But more is required..."

"Isn't that what it is all about, though? Data. Data is life. Data is freedom. Knowledge is power, isn't that the old saying?" LEXUS states, gesturing at his Disc and sending it hammering into the protective wall over and over, shattering hunks of ice away and chipping at the sorcerous defenses erected by Zia. "You cannot keep me out forever!" He declares.

Edison makes an attempt to shut LEXUS down, however, and he is persuasive. He hammers himself into the Daemon Heartless, little numbers appearing in the air as he bounces through the enemies, smashing towards LEXUS himself, and unleashing his combination strike. There is a crack of thunder in the air as LEXUS is thrown backwards, striking the ground roughly... And he slowly floats upwards, righting himself. "You're a persistent one!" he snarls to Edison. "Tell me, where are /you/ from? Identify yourself, User!" He produces his cane, which he breaks in half.

A moment later, the cane rerezzes itself into a long, deadly-looking sniper rifle, which he levels towards the ice wall, firing a beam of light at it. The powerful bolt strikes the wall, refracting and exploding into multiple beams, bouncing and refracting through the battlefield!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr misses...this is not something that he is used to.

Angantyr is not a slow baffoon, his strikes are brutal, quick, and accurate...

Unless 240 physical accuracy was debuffed recently. The player of Ang eyes Oathkeeper, the changer of stat.

Fourth wall shennanigans aside, and this isn't the scene for them anyway...

The Cutlass's strikes are true, but Angantyr weathers the blow, blood drawn for sure...and these blows should have killed lesser men...thankfully, Angantyr is not a lesser man. He grunts, roaring as he attempts to drag the man, once more, off of his chain and FACE first into the ground.

"Stay put." he says, annoyed, and starts forward, aiming to try and drive he way towards him...he see's the look in Maira's eyes.

And he tries to drive the blade RIGHT at him, aiming to engage him once more, one on one.

"I'm sorry, what was that about being found wanting. A strike is no good if it can not kill it's foe when it strikes. You won't get another chance.." he says, with a grin.

And then, he aims to try and grab the pirate by the back of the head...and attempt to repeatedly bash his head into the nearest wall.

Maira has posed:
Who /is/ this guy? Just when you think you've met every horror out there, another one rises to the occasion. Its very daunting. Warden is actually scary.

So Maira does what she usually does when she comes up against someone scary. She remembers she's met Garland. Sorry Warden, but you're just not scarier than Garland. So take heart! She will not give up!

"GURK!" she exclaims as she's flung around and right into the pointy end of Warden's blade. The chain dress she wares takes some of the damage for her, absorbing some of the force so that the sword doesn't simply pierce straight through her middle, which by her estimation, would certainly have happened. Oh, but being stabbed /hurts!/. Now she reaches forward and tries to grab Warden by the wrist, her eyes burning with inner fire...until the disappear, nothing but light shining forth as Maira's heart takes the wheel of the good ship Maira.

She can't die. If she dies, thousands could be plunged into darkness.

What starts as a bead of brilliant light explodes outward from her, the pearlescent, brilliant light of Holy seeking to completely obliterate the threat--Warden.

Zia has posed:
This isn't the first time that her own defenses have gotten used against her, and it likely won't be the last. Shards of ice slam into Zia as she tries to avoid them in mid air, to no avail. The gargoyle is thrown back against the wall of the castle, her hastily made defensive wall left in shambles. "Ow..." Her feet scramble against one of the low rooftops, but then the pain finally has her fall to her knees.

Breathing hard, she wraps one arm around her chest. "Dinnae got much left in ye, lass. Maybe... jus' one more." Reaching down to her side, she taps something on her Ma-Belle, likely a distress beacon. Should she fall, at least someone would be able to pick her up before the Shadow Lords do - hopefully.

"Alright, ye dark storm. Yer goin' te listen te me." She reaches up, hand trembling as the roiling skies seem to obey, at least for the moment. "Blast these Heartless back te the void."

The sky seems to errupt, churning into a vortex of winds that sweep towards the Heartless, seeking to lash them this way and that. Hail and ice pour down, followed by lightning that threatens to slam whatever remains airborn into the earth.

Chita has posed:
"What the hell? Is that... pirates?! Damn, you stay safe while I go summon more guards!" And with that, Chita is left alone, his escort suddenly running off at the worst possible time for reinforcements to deal with whatever the hell was going on at the tower. The Vieran Judge, however, wasn't entirely sure what the guard was talking about. Because when the guard said something about pirates... all he could hear was a light shuffling of movement, no fighting or anything of the sort. As far as he was aware... they weren't actually doing anything right now so much as gathering.

Thus, he pulled the stave he used to walk with out and began to walk towards the tower. Hopefully the guards there wouldn't suddenly jump on him associating him with the pirates, and he didn't trip over something, which he was trying pretty hard to do. Once he made his way to the tower, he attempted to use the wall as a guide and slowly wander up the stairs towards the voice in his mind. Something was happening.

'So very close, please help me!' the voice was more clear now, certainly female, certainly scared. But why could no one else hear it?

Edison Reece has posed:
Light. Light everywhere. Searing light, too. Predictably, it burns. Edison is on a pretty bad state, armor scorched and with holes his own energy cannot repair. Still, where the body weakens, the spirit still goes. Pouring something on his wounds to ease the pain, he waited for a moment before replying with a monotone "403".

Yup, not one for a lot of conversation, this fellow. Pulling the triggers as fast as he can, a approaches Lexus again, before flipping his guns, grabbing them by the barrels and engaging on Gun-Fu.

And this is enough of maiming the fourth wall.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva says "Damn so that helped you as well?"

She'd still have helped with it but that leaves her unhappy she's not sure about what else he is saying it. Some of it may be a bit beyond her world's current understanding to it. She's however able to keep things going for now she launches herself up at Lexus and her hands burst into holy flames s she flies at him. he's surprisingly fast and she's pulling some trick or another that has kept her up in the air.

"I am not done, my master instilled something important in me. Too much darkness drowns as too much light burns and you have gone to the depth only the creator knows!"

She yells before she attempts to get in close with Lexus and unleash a holy explosion of power which might not be something he'd enjoy too much.

Her allies are puting up quite the fight too, Zia's mastery of magic is most impressive, she is quite the mage to be sure, and the others aer not slouchign off.

"Remind me to never earn your ire, Zia!"

Warden Thache has posed:
Warden simply smiles even as he is bounced into the ground by Angantyr. The man bounces back to his feet with equal alacrity. Apparently landing face first doesn't bother him in the least.

He's had worse.

This is proving to be quite enjoyable to be honest.

Angantyr reaches for him, but catches only air as the lithe cat plants one booted foot right on Angantyr's face to help boost him up once again. "My dear Lord Idiot." He drawls as he spins in the air, the kick more insulting than harmful. "If I wanted to kill you I would have done it already. No. No I'd rather you live though this. Its always more fun to watch your noble types suffer for your failure than anything else."

He would say more but suddenly...

HOLY HOLY CATMAN!!

The flare of light burns and he staggers back, coliding with the wall behind him with a hiss that is half pain and half suprise. He should have expected that one from the lady but...ah well.

The Captain recovers quicly enough before aiming a smile towards the flaming woman and her 'brave knight'.

His tail is smouldering a bit. That annoys him.

He decides to take it out on the both of them. Ropes appear again, the energy constructs coiling for Ang's throat before trying to haul him off the ground. The draining influence siphoning off more energy from both the beligured defenders. "I really," He sounds honest enough in this, but who knows. "Would rather not kill either of you." A chuckle. "You're not giving me much hope for your surrender."

From lower down the stairs there is a call from a pirate. "BOSS! SOMEONE ELSE IS ON THEIR WAY THERE!"

Wonderful. Reinforcements or no this was getting silly.

As the ropes do their work he uses the wall as a springboard, flying towards the pair of defenders. The actual blades derez however, and he lets the heavy hilts do the work instead. Maira is just getting one aimed for a knock out blow.

Ang? Well his punching for the throat. He's annoying with all the slamming of face to ground dammit.

Alberic Lux has posed:
"My apologies," Lux replies quite belatedly, when asked about the kidnapping. "I've an experiment I wish to return to, as well." He turns his attention back to Maira.

"Ah. Well. I'll have to find it in other ways." Alberic takes a step back when the fight gets a little more serious. He avoids the conflict, looking about the chamber for... something. He can't quite pinpoint it. Something about this spot makes him feel uneasy. Or, more accurately, physically ill. On edge. Like he needs to just...

"The pirate," he says, eye widening a touch. "Of course."

Warden proves his acrobatic mettle, striking at Angantyr and Maira both. While Alberic has no particular desire to see Angantyr draw any further breath, Maira is another matter. There's a tugging there, his heartstrings plucked by a force unknown. It certainly isn't love, or anything else; he'd know that, old as he is. It's a protective instinct. "But why," he says, speaking under his breath, "her?"

"No matter. Excuse me! You there!" Alberic walks back to the bottom of the stairs, lifting his voice and his right hand. The object at his side drifts alongside it. He's addressing the Viera, apparently, though from a distance. "I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to vacate the premises!"

The air splits behind Alberic. Another door opens, though narrowly. He looks at it, and narrows his eye. "Some sort of interference... mmm. Damocles, please attend this." The object floating around him makes a crystalline chime. It rotates, hovering to the crack in the air and thrusting itself into the gap. Grey-skinned hands with long, wicked claws emerge, grasping at the edges and trying to force it open.

"Ah. Now, to the matter at hand." Alberic clears his throat, and then takes a slow, deep breath. A glow suffuses him, coming from within. Light, beautiful and terrible and unrestrained by the darkness found in all men. He gathers it in one hand, motes of illumination shed from his fingertips. The other grasps at smoke, a hazy aura surrounding it. "While I don't care for the man with the Keyblade..."

He hauls back, and he throws. Jagged tines of light rip across the space between himself and Warden, like lightning with straighter lines. From the other hand, clouds of entropic, ruinous force leap, disintegrating blasts that look like dense, somehow hungry smoke.

Alberic's one visible eye has taken on a cold, heartless cast. "Leave. The girl. Be."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr, once more, finds himself elevated...

But once more, decends as Maira sets him on Holy x3.

Nice.

Angantyr staggers from the throat punch, it was still like punching a rock, but it has the desired effect...and then he COMES RIGHT BACK DOWN like a mountain. Angantyr has become tired of this bull<GOOSEHONK>, absolutely tired of this crap.

"...Tch, well nuts to you too, Bright man." he says to Lux, he never even met the man, what's his deal? More Light Suppremists...

Reguardless, he talks horsely, and growls...

"Surrender? You must be joking. I don't surrender. Ever."

And then he comes in viciously, aiming to once more drive the keyblade through a series of quick and brutal swings, each one aiming to try and break through his bobing and weaving...Angantyr is a freighttrain, to Warden's sport's car.

And then he flips, once more aiming to slam the keyblade down in an overhead strike.

LEXUS has posed:
Edison comes in with as much power as he can muster, firing repeatedly into LEXUS with his guns. LEXUS raises his Disc to try to protect against the fusillade, but there is only so much that you can do against firepower of that magnitude. Pieces continue to break off of LEXUS, ripping parts of him away. Wireframes begin to appear, filling in the wounds slowly and attempting to repair the damage, but it is slow, ever so slow. "I'm going to remember you..." LEXUS says, hissing at the gunmaster. A moment later, Minerva unleashes light and earth against LEXUS, who rapidly erupts a barrier. With a massive clash, there is an explosion as the forces mutually annihilate each other, the bartrier shattering around LEXUS just as the power fades. "Not so easy now, is it..."

And then the sky tears. A cataclysmic weather front hammers down into the Heartless, crushing and scattering them. No amount of clever maneuvering can possibly prevent that from inflicting critical damage, and LEXUS himself is almost crushed into the ground. He shakes under the power of the elements shredding into him and the Heartless, the backlash almost visible to Zia's trained eyes. "Kkkkk....hhhh...." He hisses, his inhuman eyes wide. But he does not lose coherence.

He raises a hand once more. "I will not be denied. Your power will feed me... It will give me what I need to win through. Just hold still for a moment, and I will make this fast!"

And then the darkness explodes upwards, the neon purple energy seeking out the defenders once more to drain them dry of their life.

Maira has posed:
Maira has gone into defense mode. It has been a long time it seems, since she has felt she was in this much danger. Would he kill her? Maybe. Would he kill Angantyr? Definitely. If he did that, she fears the results would be the same. It would break her.

The light of Holy rages on, the flames that envelop her burn with a white hot intensity as she floats back toward the ground. Her features are impossible to make out in any detail, though as the Holy spells disperse her form is at least once more visible. Maira moves toward Angantyr, ready to stand with him.

Just when she thought Lux had wandered off, he steps in in her defense. For this, she swells with gratefulness, at least until his statement of not caring what happens to Angantyr takes the wind out of her sails. How could he say that!? "Well /I/ care about the man with the keyblade!" she replies, and aims another round of healing toward Angantyr and herself. She's not feeling well, at all.

The light extends like rays of warm sunshine, bathing Angantyr in the healing energy. Her own wounds reknit as well, at least somewhat. And someone else was approaching! From the sounds of it, someone here to help.

Zia has posed:
The end comes in a blast of darkness. It slams into Zia as she kneels on the rooftop, blasting her back as tendrils of purple energy seem to feed on her lifeforce. The gargoyle breathes once, a whimper, then collapses back against the roof, rolling down across the tiles and seemingly towards a hard landing on the ground below.

Before she can meet a most untimely end at the hands of the Heartless below, a adrk form comes swooping across from the roof. There's a flash of chains, and then the Gargoyle is snatched from mid-air before being swept away by her savior. Apparently, someone had been listening to that distress call.

Chita has posed:
Finally getting towards the top of the tower where the fighting was going on the Viera finally noticed something was off. He could hear whatever it was that had been calling him coming from further on, but... there was something in the way. Was this the pirates he had heard the guard talk about? Or was it something else? Something catches his ears, though, a slitering sound that he knew well enough. It was that sound that some Heartless made, specifically those that went around through walls and floors when they were doing such.

"Damn... heartless." But, of course, there was none. Something was making him think such however, spear coming out as he began to walk forward slowly towards the walkway that lead up towards Cinderella's room. Of course, this meant he was about to head right by Angantyr, Maira, Alberic and Warden, so it may seem strange to them that this was happening. Left alone, though, he wouldn't interact. There was a direct mission in his mind, an agenda, and it wasn't dealing with whatever heartless were seemingly fighting with each other.

Edison Reece has posed:
This time, he knows. Stepping over the heads of nearby Heartless, Edison bides his time as the sinister tendrils try to do their work. Still, it took a lot of luck for him to escape that one. Edison flips around, wildly firing his gun before trying to kick LEXUS. Then, if things go well, he should find support somewhere and show him how hardheaded he is... he hoped.

Warden Thache has posed:
Mental note. Keyblades /do/ hurt.

Warden is just a touch too slow there. The weapon catches him and sends him spinning into the wall, blood leaks from a rent in his coat. His arm isn't quite suposed to bend like that either. However the man's eyes still glow bright and fierce in the dark of the hallway.

"Yes yes, I understand. You're all too powerful and angsty and tortured and attempting to readeem yourself for past mistakes to surrender to the likes of me." He retorts towards Ang as he shakes his head, smirking just slightly. "Or just full of too much pride. I couldn't care less about just what it might be."

Dammit. He was hoping that last crunch would deal with Maria. However it seems that the woman just won't back down. Just as much as the knight.

Before he can figure a way to deal with it Lux makes his own views on the subject known and Warden is again flung to one side by the strike. He gives the man an exasperated look. "My friend, you are welcome too her. If you could just convince her to /stop/ setting me on fire, or healing the man that is attempting to stab a gaint key though my vitals. I'd be happy to stop attempting to knock her senceless!" A pause. "And if I kill the knight she's all yours. Remember that!"

Urgh.

He /told/ them he should have just leveled the castle.

Then someone new starts...wondering though the combat zone. "And who by Orian's goddamn belt are you?" He calls towards Chita. Some blind guy? What even /is/ this!

He glances at the trio facing him now before deciding just what to do...and he smiles.

The ropes appears again, this time wrapping around Maira and Ang...and he shoots his arms wide.

The ropes snap, and intend to fling Maira into Lux's arms, and Ang right into Chita before the lithe cat bolts for the top of the stairs and Cinder's room.

MEANWHILE!!!

The castle gates slowly work themselves open. Further and further, the gatehouse guards and the irate pirates opening and closing before finally starting to swing further open.

Oh hopefully Heartless do not flood the courtyard and need a Keyblade to bring them under control. That would be a same wouldn't it.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is able to endure a lot, a lot of damage she's trained herself to be able to do so, and she's got other move she channels magic into her gauntlets. She seems intent to try to deny Lexus, but she's got to time this right. The Darkness comes for Lexus and tries to grab her. Then comes something unexpected, darkness leaks of out Minerva hand she uses this to armour her arms and deflect h incoming energy which was trying to feed upon her. The darkness vanishes and she narrows her eyes.

She takes a deep breath and then slams her fists together causing a shock wave of energy flying right at LEXUS attempting to keep him off her allies.

"I will not fall yet to you cur! I will reis you until my death and if I must I?ll rise from my grave to keep fighting you!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Ropes grab Angantyr's arms...his eyes narrow.

He reaches up, grabbing the ropes on Maira's arms, holding fast and challenges his strength against the Pirate's...

This time, Angantyr wins, aiming to try and overpower the ropes, and DRAG Warden up...and then down.

He cuts through the rope, "You realize, I grew up near the water, ships are a past time of mine..." a pause, "I do wish I could go out more often, but as the world is..." he shrugs. "Oh right..." he looks at Chita, "Okay, seriously, what are you even doing here? Go away, you're a hinderance." he says, and looks back towards Warden, "Eh, I don't really do the Angst thing, one..." he grunts, and dives in towards him, "I've made peace with the darkness." He aims to try and grab him by the shoulder, his hand becoming a terrible monsterous claw, the blood spilled by both sides litterally rising up, aiming to repeatedly drive it's claws into the man...

"As for the second...well, pot...kettle.."

And then he drives the blade forward, once more, energy gathering in the form of only light...aiming to litterally shoot the massive beam of light in the form of a sword through Warden.

"BLACK!"

LEXUS has posed:
Edison smashes into LEXUS, fighting desperately. The Dark Virus grunts, grimacing to himself as he reflects that reusing the attack would be less effective than expected. It did disable the Gargoyle, however, and that's a plus. That was dangerous magic.

And Edison is similarly dangerous if he is left alone. LEXUS, however, has little time to reflect on it as Minerva continues hammering at LEXUS with Earth Slashes, the Dark Virus erecting another digital barrier to protect himself. Once again the wall holds... Barely. "Your terms... are acceptable." He hisses, as he begins unleashing a massive wave of neon spears, attempting to cleave through the pair of remaining enemies.

He does kind of hope Warden doesn't explode before he gets there. that would be unfortunate.

Maira has posed:
Maira gawks. Just...stands there with her mouth hanging open for a few moments. She was all /his/!? Like she was an object to be GIVEN away!? Maira lets out a sound not unlike a roar. Angantyr grabs the ropes that were meant to, undoubtedly, fling her away again and likely at Lux and puts his strength against the pirate's. Guess what? Angan is <goosehonk>ing STRONG.

Maira then looks over as Chita wanders by like a lost soul, her expression one of concern and confusion. What...? "Chita? What are you doing?!" she asks, but she really doesn't have the luxery or spending time on this. Warden is trying to GIVE HER AWAY.

"HEY! I am not some object you can just promise to someone, you jerk! STOP TRYING TO KILL ANGAN!" she shouts, then lashes out with fire, but also air. She weaves them together, swirling into a tornado of flame and righteous destruction. Maybe she'll send HIM flying this time!

Edison Reece has posed:
The Ranger gritted his teeth in pain as the spears rent armor and flesh alike. He surely felt the wounds, but he still wasn't down for the count.

Even if all that he could do for now was to fire one shot.

Alberic Lux has posed:
Lux finds himself curious as to how someone so suffused with darkness can control light as well. He elects to ask at a later juncture, when he isn't striking a pirate with primal forces.

Such a waste. Sigh.

Alberic just flat-out ignores Maira's grumblings. He addresses Warden. "You misunderstand," he remarks. "I do not desire her in any sense. What I desire is her /safety/. You are compromising it." He hurls another ball (cloud?) of entropy, the Ruin spell twisting weirdly and flying quickly. "Cease your aggression, and I may cease my own. Perhaps attempt another tactic. I recommend /stealth/ for /kidnappings/," he snarls.

/Amateurs/!

"DAMOCLES! RELEASE!"

The weapon, hanging out of a hole in reality, twists like a key turning in a lock. The gap widens. The clawed thing pulls itself through, followed by more of its ilk. They are tall and lanky, long of limb and lacking in legs, slithering like snakes -- or perhaps hovering, and giving the impression of locomotion. They share the yellow eyes of Heartless, but don't give off the same baleful darkness as they do. They seem... empty.

The hole in their chests seems to back this up.

The Empties take up position behind Lux. They slowly pile out, one at a time, forming a wall between Chita, him, and the staircase beyond. Two of them turn around, facing the Viera. Their claws flex a little. The tips brush the ground. They regard him curiously, slowly moving forward. They're drawn to something.

"More /darkness/," Lux growls. His cool composure is ruined by this -- instinct. This foreign /thing/ that is not his own. Is it the fal'Cie? Do his masters desire something of him? Is she perhaps...?

Alberic reaches out. Damocles leaps into his hand. He kicks off the ground, hurtling towards Warden Thache with his flat-sided weapon held in a reverse grip. There's a gleam of light from his hand, a flicker of transference, and Damocles shifts, gaining razor edges and a triangular point. The edge glows, leaving a faint trail in the air.

He swings. There's a ringing in the air when he does, leaving a wedge-shaped glare behind. It lurches forward opposite Angantyr's own eruption of light, clinging to whatever it touches and sun-bleaching anything in contact with it. Alberic reverses the grip and swings the other way, closing and attacking with practiced brutality. Another burst of light appears, hissing and sizzling. He reaches up with his other hand, grasping the patch over his eye.

Lux pulls it free. There is an eye in the socket, glowing like a tiny sun. The black brand stands starkly, an intricate symbol burned onto the orb. The light he leaves behind shines brighter, matching it for intensity. There is a flash, a sudden blinding brilliance. Even the most good-hearted could not bear to look upon it. The black-hearted fiends nearby may find it painful to be in mere proximity. Even still, it gives a distinct impression of being a spark of a larger whole... a fact that may prove uniquely horrifying.

"/Burn/!"

Chita has posed:
As he walked further, Chita could hear the 'Heartless' nearby, making quite a fuss, lots of noise, and by the raised sounds, some of them were trying to get his attention. Or, perhaps, making known they were about to pounce on him. "Do not, Heartless!" he says aloud, spear now pointing towards Angantyr and Thache as he walked by, a warning to something that wasn't there, or perhaps them, if they were keen enough to realize such. "I have no patience for a fight now, though if you get in my way..."

Of course, right about that time... something gets in his way. He wasn't sure what to make of the noises they produced. It was... different. "ENOUGH! I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO PLAY THESE GAMES! BEGONE, NOW!" And the blinded Viera pulled out another spear and spun around several times in quick succession, a large wall of wind forming around him before it blew outwards to try and knock anything nearby him away and out of the way. Specifically, the things in front. However, it would also be sent towards the direction of Thache and Angantyr and Maira. "Someone is in pain, someone is hurt, and you will not stop me! I can hear them!"

With where he was headed, Cinderella's room, those who had an interest in keeping her safe would probably take note. Or, for that matter, anyone who had any interest in Cinderella's room. And unless stopped, or something was in the way, the Viera made a leap for the door that went to her room, having a rough idea of where the 'cries for help' he kept hearing were coming from, and prepared himself to try and bust down anything he impacted, if something, like a door. For all he knew there was a wall there between where he was now and Cinderella.

Maira has posed:
You know, usually "burn" is her line. But really, really...Lux can totally borrow it.

Maira steps back and into Angan, watching with wide eyes as Lux lifts his eyepatch to reveal a small, impossibly intense star where his eye should be. If it had been a year ago, Maira wouldn't have believed what she was seeing. Oh, the things she has seen. Even though this is being used in her defense, this moment is very likely to make it into her Nightmare Scrapbook.

Light is not always gentle and kind, she knows this. She has used it to burn, to destroy. It is as terrifying an imcomprehensible force as the deepest darkness. Light can be scary.

Maira is in no way expecting to be attacked by Chita in that moment. Confused as he was, it never would cross her mind that he would lash out at her in any way. Something is truly wrong with him.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva says "Then so be it...."

Is Minerva's reply she endures the attack, she's manages to endure it for now. She knows she's pretty bad off and won't last much longer. but the longer she can keep up the more time she can buy others she attempts to focus she might have enough in her for one last attack but that's going to be it and she knows it she's got to focus for this and clear her mind save for what she has to do. A aura surrounds her as she attempt to throw off the infection from Lexus, she's got a plan but will she last long enough. She's dimly aware of Chita's actions, she's had enough of that. She will have to deal with it she some how lives.

"... perhaps but better to die like this than die in obscurity...in a ditch over some pointless noble squabble..."

LEXUS has posed:
One more shot just adds another small wound to the Dark Virus. "You know, you /could/ just leave. No one would blame you." LEXUS says irritably, his body a mass of minor wounds at this point. "But no, you insist on fighting to the last. Allow me to /indulge you/!"

Minerva is not spared what comes for her defense. The world shifts as LEXUS continues to exert his terrible force. Alberic can feel the incursion of Data into the world once more as he continues to gather Resources.

Precious Resources. A moment later, there is an explosion of rampant neon energy, shredding outwards to strike at his foes.

A moment later, the Daemon Heartless that survived the conflagaration descend, striking out at the pair. "Die."

Warden Thache has posed:
Dangit. He's beginning not to like Angan. "Lady Flame, I'm /not/ trying to kill him! He's trying to kill /me/. Your priorties don't quite match up!" Warden shouts back towards Maira as he tires to get away from the people coming up the stairs after him.

Claws tear into his cloak. He /really/ likes that cloak.

Blood splatters against the stairs before a sword transfixes the pirate. Missing a mortal strike by a half-inch. He manages to twist to one side as Maria's flames come for him, taking only a slight singe from them. He picks himself up with a shake of his head before he looks once towards the top of the stairs. If he's fast enough. If he's quick enough. He /could/ make i--

Oh.
5rThats a lot of burning.

"Have you ever tried to be stealthy while looting a castle? Its next to impossible mate." He tosses towards Alberic as he gets addressed...and then the man pulls the patch off.

Light.

Oh god that looks like its going to hurt.

Now. At times like that a truly noble and loyal soul would stand stalwart against the pain. A honorable man would fight back. A moral man would stand by his principles.

It is lucky that Warden is /none/ of these things. He is a pirate.

He goes out the window.

Well. Its sort of a window. More a hole in the wall that Ang blasted earlier.

He's diving by the time the light reaches him, taking a header towards that circle of freedom before dissipearing out of site. Did he prefer to die of a fall than from a burning light? It would likely hurt less.

No. He didn't intend to die at all.

Should anyone look out the window? They would find a much abused pirate captain hanging by a rope from a longboat. An airship, floating off the ground as dozens of pirates load all the loot it can carry from the Palace. He hauls himself up inch by painful inch before turning towards the hole he just lept from.

And he bows.

And laughs.

"Twas a pleasure to meet you two Lady Fire and Lord Idiot! Tell Lord Patch to keep his eye covered next time if he wants a civil conversation! I think I shall take my leave. I hope you enjoy your princess!"

No hard feelings. Right?

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr was mostly focused on the Pirate...Chita was an annoyance...but not a primary threat. He stares at the Pirate, as Lux just completely sears him to hell. Angantyr whistles... "Not bad...not bad at all." Angantyr says, shrugging. That's something you respect...the heartless like creatures? Creepy.

Not until he noticed the spear come at them. He moves, interposing infront of Maira, and then turning to brutally try and beat the face of the bunny into the wall.

"THAT was a mistake bunny, but good that you show your true colors. /YOU WILL NOT HARM THE PRINCESS...and now I am going to mail you back to your shadow lord master. /IN PIECES/!" he growls, and then swings the blade forward, aiming to repeatedly hit Chita like a rag doll. "We have a army of heartless at our door, what's one more minion!?"

Maira has posed:
Of course, Angantyr moves to protect her. It wouldn't have done her much harm, true, but Maira is already in bad shape.

Oh, thank god though, Warden is leaving. She is perfectly alright with this. She feels no need to chase him down and finish him off. All Maira wants to do is heal those who are hurt (er, /herself/ included) and make sure that Cinderella and all those who fall asleep are safe, especially Avira. Best friend and all. Maira would fight as hard as she could for that.

Apparently, this is not in the cards yet.

Heals happening anyway, but Maira moves to try to restrain Angantyr, physically if need be (which is hilarious) by placing her hands on his chest. "Angan no! I know you hate him but something is wrong with him! You can't just kill him!" she pleads.

Edison Reece has posed:
Hit, again. Again and again. He's kinda tired of this. And almost dead on his feet. Not flourishes, no heroic last stands. Edison just threwhimself at LEXUS and hit him with everything he had, on any place he could find. Arms, Legs, Heads... free game!

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is just trying to stop the Dark Virus she know she's powerful as he speaks about them just leaving the others. No she'll not run she fought the day her world was consumed she'll fight today here.

"I have forsaken my birthright, but I have not done so to my pride as a warrior. I'll not yield to you. As I said you'll have to kill me and it's not ... enough."

The Demon Virus comes for her and is ripping her up badly but she's still enduring it. Her clothing is in tatters.

"Now ... face the light..."

She follows up Edison's attack with her own again her fists are glowing with Holy power as she dives at Lexus with everything she has, this is all she's got left and she knows it.

BGM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrS39gHRnu0 - Music Fantasy Tactics: Le Grand Grimoire - Trisection

Alberic Lux has posed:
"Kidnap first!" Lux yells at the retreating pirate. "Loot second!"

The solar glare fades. Alberic Lux lowers Damocles. There is left a crystalline orb instead of an eye, the brand still present, still standing out like an aberrant wound. He straightens, turning back --

-- and promptly gets buffeted by a wall of wind. The Empties are easy to push back; they're comparatively light, and also just goons. They stagger, letting the Viera past, close enough to try and move Alberic, Angantyr and Maira. He obviously wants to get into the next room.

Alberic does not move an inch.

He glances at Maira, listening to her and to the mad rabbit. He tilts his head, smiling. It's off-kilter, and reflected in his suddenly-calm voice. "Oh, well. /I/ can."

The l'Cie extends an open palm at the advancing Viera. He suddenly frowns. "Oh. You... poor creature. You're simply... broken, aren't you?" He sounds almost caring. Almost. Lux lowers Damocles. He intercepts Chita, reaching out to lay a hand on him. "You require aid. I will provide. Please; allow me."

That's about when Lux goes about trying to burn the remaining darkness out of Chita's heart and body, mostly by judicious application of a variant of Holy. It feels about as awful as one might expect when it's applied. The pain is excruciating. Afterwards... well, clarity often comes after going over the worst of the hurdles.

Chita may find the whole experience startlingly familiar.

LEXUS has posed:
Minerva and Edison continue to strike at LEXUS with their best shots.

LEXUS continues to refuse to die. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" LEXUS exclaims in frustration as he continues to get overwhelmed by kung fu and gunfire. It's not fancy, but then when is it ever?

Maira has posed:
Oh, how nice. Lux is going to help Chita!

WAIT THAT'S NOT HELPING! "Lux, no!" she cries, but its all in vain. Lux gives zero <goosehonks>.

Edison Reece has posed:
Edison's sutbborness was tested against the powers of Darkness... and have been found wanting. End of file.

Chita has posed:
Despite being disoriented from something, something making him hear things, think all the others are heartless... he could still hear things, and hear things like a loud noise coming at him. Which is why he turned his upper body quickly as he jumped towards the door when he heard something making noise coming at him. And suddenly the impact, despite having both spears up to block, knocked him skidding back until he hit a nearby wall with a loud meaty thud.

Chita coughed heavily for a moment before growling out, "That's what I get for not just destroying you stupid heartless." He heard another heartless coming up nearby, and attempted to turn and smack it over the head with the haft of his spear, only to suddenly scream out in pain as the holy magic burned through him like an ant caught in a magnifying glass. Anyone who knew the Viera knew full well he was weak to magic. Which is why it hurt so hard. But... Heartless can't do magic... right? Staggering back and looking confused, in pain and panting, the blind fellow growled out and said, "I don't have time for this!" Then in a half mutter he said something about 'Princess might be in danger'.

"Can you hear me?!" he shouted aloud, trying to reach whoever it was who was calling for help. Of course, no one else could hear the response that he did, that being 'Please, hurry! You are so close! You are just outside where I am being kept! I think there are Heartless outside trying to keep me locked in here! Please, you have to help me escape from the castle!'

Panting a little and standing upright more, he says aloud, "Hear that you stupid heartless? I don't have time to waste with you. So begone! I have to protect them, whoever that is!" Quickly dashing towards the doors again he channeled all of his energy into his spears before beginning to pepper the entire area with spears of pure light, an attack many had seen a fair amount of times. When the spears impacted something it would explode brilliantly before vanishing back towards him before he tried to blow away the area between where the voice was coming from, himself, and the rest, to create a gap the Heartless hopefully couldn't cross. A single, final spear created from the trailing energy of the others.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva keeps striking at Lexus, she's been ravaged by him she's not got much left even as Edison falls she's the last one standing. She's bloodied beaten and she attempts to steady her self she says nothing but she's enduring all this brutal fighting she's knows she will fall soon but she can buy the others time. She still stands but does not move to attack she's trying to keep on her feet, but she's up and in Lexus' way.

Maira has posed:
Lux didn't fix it. He escalated it. Before she even knows what she is doing, Maira has moved in front of Angantyr. She's not a very good meathsield, but she's done it before she could even think of what she was doing.

She loves Lord Idiot. What can she say?

Maira intercepts the spear, taking it in the stomach, a little to the left of where Warden had stabbed her. Her chain takes some of the damage, but oh is she impaled. Blood trickles from the corner of her mouth, eyes widening, before she simply slumps and passes out.

Miraculously, she's alive.

Oathkeeper has posed:
Something is happening within the castle. A sudden white light beams down through windows left and right. It's almost like spirits returning to their bodies. Only, these are not spirits! These are peoples consciousnesses, returning to their body - illuminated and made pretty by Disney Magic!

Guards start to wake up, heroes find themselves in strange resting places, and Cinderella finds herself greeted by her husband, smiling at her.

"I told you they would come through for us."

"Yes." Prince Charming answers her. His frown grows quickly though. "But it's not over yet. There's heartless in droves out there. They're doing everything they can to keep them away from here."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr waits for the spear to come...he was ready, because his vengence will be swift and brutal...

And then suddenly /HE/ has a human shield. He catches Maira as she slumps...he holds he for a moment, her body covered in brutal blows and burns from the explosions of light.

"Maira?" he asks, looking at her with a shakey voice...

"MAIRA!?!" he says, looking at her...and he looks back at Chita...

He lowers her down, he isn't a medic, and things are too chaotic.

LEXUS can probably feel the amount of RAGING ANGRY DARKNESS that just explodes out of Angantyr. He is beyond words now, he rises, his eyes /crimson/ as the abysal armor clings to him.

The roar is massive, as Angantyr comes at him.

He swings the blade up once, aiming to catch Seith in it's arch...

And then the blade glows black...and he repeatedly slashes it into the blind judge, aiming to just saw through his body with brute force. There is no reason, no mercy, Chita as far as he knew, took something precious from him...and now he wants blood.

And then, his entire body becomes that of the beast of darkness he once was, as his arm comes back, a massive claw, and aims to drive the blade RIGHT through Chita, aiming to litterally try to burn his entire body away with darkness.

Ang's eyes are without mercy.

Alberic Lux has posed:
The explosions catch Lux off-guard. He expected physical spears, and tried to deflect them. This turns out to be a mistake.

The blast shoves him off the stairs, out of the Viera's path. He catches himself before he takes a nasty fall, sliding across the floor and regaining his footing below. He brushes the front of his coat off, straightening. He's not much worse for wear. It looks like it'll take a little more than that.

"Ah. Some manner of compulsion, or illusion. I see." He cants his head to the side. Lux shrugs a shoulder. Angantyr then rushes past him, surging with darkness -- precisely what he is meant to combat. He stares at him with laser focus, taking in the shape of the Keyblade and considering the previous maneuvers.

People start to wake up. Lux frowns a little. "A problem solved and an opportunity lost. I see." He looks to Maira, fallen and battered. He grinds his teeth. It isn't his duty to protect her. Then why does he feel it is so?

"Ugh. Enough of this nonsense. I have /work/ to get back to. /Here/, Wielder; allow me to make your life easier." He lifts the sword. "Damocles."

It shifts. It changes between myriad forms: a spiked hammer, a hook, a dagger with a catch and an odd edge. He strikes quickly and with remarkable precision, channeling Ruin through Damocles and into each blow. He also doesn't seem to be attacking Chita, per se, but all of his gear.

Look, even Cocoon used to be kind of Ivalice-y. Lux remembers the class changing.

Chita has posed:
Just as the Judge was going to turn and try to feel around for some kind of entryway or door, the sudden surge of darkness made him shiver and he turned to try and figure out where it was coming from. Were the heartless that were trying to keep whoever trapped inside really that strong? Strong enough to make him a little worried? Taking a few steps back and trying to figure out what to do, he realized that the one he was trying to protect was behind him. He couldn't let them get hurt... he couldn't try to avoid whatever attack was coming.

If he did, there was the chance they would blast through the wall and hurt the one behind it. Thus, he did the only thing he could do...

Wait, what the hell was suddenly doing something with the light armor suit he had one?! Pieces of it got knocked away and he wound up growling out in pain as he felt some kind of magic wash over him, generally making him feel weaker, just before that impending feeling of 'oh shit' came and the wave of darkness. Chita rushed forward and brought both weapons up defensively to try and protect against the attack as best he could. The spears, though, weren't his personally-crafted weapons of his Judgehood. It was the 'working' spears he bought in Baron. They were regular-made weapons, and thus, they broke when the attack came.

Broke, and the attack sliced deep into his arms and down his front, catching a leg and knocking him backwards. Smacking against the door with a loud bang he slumped onto the ground in a half-seated position with the broken weapons still held. Still conscious, though. Which is why he growled out, "I won't let you hurt whoever is behind this door anymore, be it Princess Cinderella or anyone else." And there he remained for the moment, the broken weapons held in his hands and trying to catch his breath, preparing to try and defend himself again if necessary however he could, himself and whoever was behind the door that he had been drawn to by the voices pleading for help.

Oathkeeper has posed:
Late to the party. Late, but better late than never. Years ago, a certain Fairy Godmother exhausted a great deal of her power. Even now, she has a hard time recovering that great magic that she lost... BUT!

"Oh, I do believe I still have the touch!" An elderly lady flying over the castle decides, suddenly drawing a sparkling half-arc around the castle. Light begins to droop down over the castle. A pure... beautiful light.

Standing on the highest balcony of the castle - extended from the same room she was in before - Princess Cinderella stands, feeding her pure Princess of Heart's light to her Fairy Godmother, so she might bring this light to the kingdom. The reaction is almost immediate!

Heartless left and right suddenly poof into pieces. What's more, left and right, carriages and random pieces of fruit come to life _as_ carriages, and begin to literally drive out the remaining heartless out of the castle courtyard. LEXUS, being the smart fella he is, knows when things are no longer looking up for them - and probably wisely got the heck out of there.

People start flooding out of the castle, calling for Cinderella, making it known that she is indeed awake. Making it known that this evening was won!

Alberic Lux has posed:
Lux beats the equipment out of Chita. He pauses as he disengages, looking up. He sniffs for a second.

Without further preamble, Alberic makes for the hole in the world he made. He slips into it, followed by the Empties in the foyer. They file in, one at a time, and when the last steps through, it closes like it was never there.

Except for all the bleached sections of wall, and the pain and suffering. That happened.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr is ignorant of the goings on around him. Words do little to reach him now. Maira is hurt, possibly dying, and Ang is little beyond reason right now.

The only thing he knows how to do is make people who threaten the light spring multiple stab wounds mysteriously. (It's not really mysterious.)

Right now, Angantyr repeatedly just starts stabbing at Chita, repeatedly trying to stab the man, the man who hurt the most important person to him. The man who tired to burry him alive. The man who helped Hades against his friends home...

The man who keeps attempting to ruin the things he holds dear. Over and over and over...

Chita has posed:
Even without sight there are very simple things that Chita can figure out. Where something is coming from if it's making sound, roughly how large it is by how it attacks, if it's trying to make any sound about how high up the sound is... and when something is charging him, in general, there is sound. Small sounds, armor, footsteps, things of the sort. Which is why when the cornered Judge hears Angantyr/the Heartless coming for him again, despite the sudden surge of light and good he felt coming from all around, he rolled forward and dodged under the attack only to spring up with the two half-spears in his hands held tight, given how badly his arms were hurt, and try to drive them straight into the assaulting Heartless in an all-or-nothing fashion. chances were, after this, he was all out of any ability to do anything.

Silently hoping this would be enough, he heard a voice speak again, perhaps a last attempt to get him to succeed, in the form of 'You are so close... if you can just get me out of this castle...'. Perhaps if he managed to deal with the Heartless. He had to.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr see's the attack again, he growls...

And as the spears of light come in, he smacks them away with darkness and the light of the Keyblade. He dives through, aiming to just brutally try and put Chita's head into a wall. There was little finesse, pure brutality...

And then he holds the keyblade up again, aiming to drive it down, again and again, aiming to try and break through whatever defenses Chita had left, aiming to try and leave him exposed for what would come next, he aims to tear through him, aiming to make sure nothing is left.

He just roars, brutally, aiming to tear the bunny apart.

Chita has posed:
Letting out a pained hiss when he felt his arms knocked aside using the weapons as a method of doing such, broken as they were, Chita had the sense of mind to roll to the side and leap straight into the air to avoid the next downward-moving attack that was likely coming. And then, from above, he spun around again as he had when he first tried to blow the heartless aside and threw out a longer, more buffeting series of gusts towards the Heartless that he thought Angantyr was to try and blow him back, away, and hopefully tumbling down the stairs of the tower.

"Go back to the darkness you damned heartless, I won't let you hurt her!"

Warden Thache has posed:
Outside...

"Well Cap'n," Rumbles the huge form of Warden's Quartermaster. A man quite litterally made out of stone. "...seems the lubbers are ignoring us."

Warden nods in amusement. "Would they had done that earlier Mister Shale. Would they have done that earlier." He shrugs, even though every movement hurts at the moment and shakes his head slightly.

"All the booty aboard?"

"As much as we could carry,"

Warden just nods once, watching the fight between Aug and Chita with bemusement before he snaps his spyglass shut. "Haul the rest of it up! We're pulling out. We will spilt everything at the ship!"

With that the pirates away, the large longboat easily cresting the castle walls and off away from the remaining mayhem.

Warden resist the urge to paint unkind things on the walls. But only because he is fairly sure his arm shouldn't be bending like that.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr brings the keyblade across, aiming to block the gust of wind, aiming to keep him from being blow down so easily, especially after a moment he starts breaking through the wind, aiming to drive his fist right into the face of the Rabbit.

The rage doesn't die, it doesn't end, he just keeps coming, like a storm...

This time, he swings mercilessly, once more, darkness rising from the ground, claws aiming to tear apart Chita, as he drives the light of the Keyblade into the form of the Judge, aiming to repeatedly cut and slash, aiming to tear and sunder...

And then he swings down, as darkness tears a hole into the castle, aiming to reach out and try and rip deep into Chita.

Aiming to eat him.

Oathkeeper has posed:
Angantyr's power is certainly overpowering - as is his rage. And while Cinderella is currently unavailable, there is someone else around. Someone with the bravery to stand in between. As the blade comes down, threatening to do some serious and permanent damage to the poor Viera, a blade suddenly swings from a scabbard and deflects the massive Keyblade. It'd be easy to strike again. It'd be easy for someone with Angantyr's might to engage Chita once again.

"Keyblade Wielder." But there is a man standing there besides Chita right now... who is looking at Angantyr with some confusion in his eyes. Prince Charming.

Chita has posed:
When the attack came Chita was knocked back and down, at the point where he couldn't do much any further. He had been beaten around far too much and, despite everything he had done, blind as he was, as much as he had tried to get here to protect who was behind the door... he had failed. Thus, he slumped after he's knocked to the ground and if it weren't for Prince Charming, he probably would have been hurt quite a bit more. For now, though, he is completely unconscious, or at least seems to be by all rights.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr's blade is deflected, as the blade from nowhere intercepts it.

He staggers...for a moment, the light of the sword causes him to look confused...

He calms down, staring at the downed body of the Rabbit...he could easily push the prince asside...but...

"That man was working with the Shadow Lords, he was to do harm to Cinderella.." he says, through a horse throat...he looks towards Maira, slowly walking to her. The Keyblade gone, but his eyes full of sorrow as the Abyssal armor broke apart, leaving the normal attire of the Dark Knight.

He slowly picks her up.

"Throw that man in the deepest, darkest cell you have. Pray his Shadow Lord masters come not for him, he's worked for them before, he's done so again. He's almost taken something from me, don't let him do it to you." he says, towards the Prince. And he moves, he needs a healer.

Oathkeeper has posed:
"I trust you." Prince Charming answers Angantyr, sheathing his blade. "But I would rather not have any more deaths within this castle than we must. I am certain you will understand." The man looks at the downed body of the Viera. If this Viera is truly that dangerous, perhaps it be best not to keep him in these castle walls.

"Guards! Treat this man's wounds, and then place them in the village prison!" A relatively easy place to escape from. And one that is not likely to cause anyone any harm if an escape was to be had. It doesn't take long for guards to arrive and wander off carefully with the Viera's body.

Prince Charming then walks up to Angantyr, and lays a hand on his shoulder. "I think the Princess might be able to help. Come with me."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr pauses...

He thinks for a moment, and he shrugs.

Whatever, his kingdom. But...he doesn't turn down the aid in the form of healing to Maira, that was more important, than the fate of Chita.